During this year's freshmen orientation week scheduled for late August, the University plans to send out approximately forty teams of students to work on clean-up and landscape projects in the Fitzgerald subdivision. Each team will be comprised of about a dozen freshmen performing a day of community service on either August 23 or 24. Alumni Relations plans to recruit one alumni representative to be a part of each work team.

Heard today that the temporary office space for the Live6 neighborhood development organization will be in building adjacent to the bike shop on Livernois, directly across from campus. Should open in the next month or so. Staff include a couple individuals funded by a Kresge grant, a member of the City of Detroit's planning staff, and I believe someone from the Architecture school. The permanent office will be located on McNichols (next to Detroit Sip coffeehouse), and is projected to open in January.

There is some discussion of a couple restaurants being developed near campus, one on Livernois the other on McNichols. Apparently no specifics to report publicly at this time.

There will be a presentation by Live6 at next month's Homecoming, September 30. There will also be a pop up community market on Livernois across from campus on that day.

Next week, incoming freshmen will complete a work shift in the Fitzgerald subdivision as part of orientation activities. Most will be clearing out alleyways that need attention. Alumni volunteers will be embedded with student work teams. This is how the assignment was described to me:

"Most of the group will be clearing overgrown alleys in the Fitzgerald Neighborhood just west of McNichols Campus. When we asked residents what was the best work we could do, this is what they requested. Some groups will be clearing lots of trash and overgrown weeds. One group on Wednesday will be helping the Live6 Alliance to create a directory of businesses on Livernois between 7 Mile and 8 Mile. One group each day will help on gardens in the Fitzgerald Neighborhood and one group each day will help with creating activities for folks in the Senior Homes on Wyoming near Marygrove."

Any new news on the privately built dorms and campus expansion to the south? It was announced it seems about 18 months ago but things appear stalled. I believe Peter Cummings was somehow via his real estate company. That sounded like a very positive development for campus overall.

TitanTarHeel wrote:Any new news on the privately built dorms and campus expansion to the south? It was announced it seems about 18 months ago but things appear stalled. I believe Peter Cummings was somehow via his real estate company. That sounded like a very positive development for campus overall.

There is more to it, there were some conditions attached to the dorm approval by the City that the school could not go thru with at this time, but may in the future should things change. The school also is doing exhaustive work including potentially re-pricing the tuition and bringing cost down to have additional surplus in the budget. Several big projects planned including reworking the Student Union completely, into a more student friendly space with additional construction planned there. Some fun stuff to be announced in the coming couple years for the school in relation to the campus improvements, unfortunately new dorms are not part of it as of now.

The area (District 2) just got a new council member in Tuesday's election. Not sure if they may or may not assist on this project and working for the best outcome for the area and city. A more vibrant and successful UDM seems like a real key to the district. I'd be curious what the city demands were that are scuttling this. I would've guessed that Cummings was seeking certain financial returns on the project that we couldn't make happen for him.

Not sure how much there is discussion on taking down the fences for campus, or how that may play into this. While I totally support UDM being much more connected with the local community - I do think its reasonable to have fences, to have security to have some sort of controlled and thoughtful way to monitor campus and the students well being. Private and public businesses do this everywhere -- look at the bollards (posts) that surround public buildings so that they can't get rammed by cars for example. Reasonable measure to ensure security. Anyhow, it's an interesting topic of how to best get UDM in the fabric of the community and I think the fence is merely symbolic than anything else.

TitanTarHeel wrote:The area (District 2) just got a new council member in Tuesday's election. Not sure if they may or may not assist on this project and working for the best outcome for the area and city. A more vibrant and successful UDM seems like a real key to the district. I'd be curious what the city demands were that are scuttling this. I would've guessed that Cummings was seeking certain financial returns on the project that we couldn't make happen for him.

Not sure how much there is discussion on taking down the fences for campus, or how that may play into this. While I totally support UDM being much more connected with the local community - I do think its reasonable to have fences, to have security to have some sort of controlled and thoughtful way to monitor campus and the students well being. Private and public businesses do this everywhere -- look at the bollards (posts) that surround public buildings so that they can't get rammed by cars for example. Reasonable measure to ensure security. Anyhow, it's an interesting topic of how to best get UDM in the fabric of the community and I think the fence is merely symbolic than anything else.

Agree with your sentiments regarding the fence. It is definitely just symbolic as it can be entered through at many points, however, even when I was a student there over a decade ago we were not a fan of the fence. I think it is there to give parents a sense of safety for their children, but it also is kind of a black eye to the community I believe. I have heard that the fence was going to be modified to return back to the architecture building on Livernois, so that once could leave campus directly from the Architecture building. We shall see how that develops, but I hope in the near future it is removed altogether, or at least a less rigid threshold is created between the University and the Community.